BRIDGES DEEPENS CONNECTIONS IN DHARAMSALA, INDIA
by Cheryl Crow
Imagine hearing a Native American prayer chant while watching an elder perform traditional dances in colorful clothes. Imagine holding the hand of an indigenous grandmother from deep in the Amazon as she shares her prayer songs. Imagine watching a grandmother from Gabon, Africa raise up her arms, jump up and down and chant as she communes with a higher power. Now, imagine seeing this from the eyes of a teenaged Tibetan child who has practiced Buddhism from infancy.

This is what our Bridges students at the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) experienced in October. Not only were they able to meet one on one with members of the International council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, a group who gathered in Dharamsala to pray for Tibet’s freedom and address issues facing indigenous communities, they were also given the opportunity to create a digital story about the meeting. The students generated the story with the help of a team of Bridges staff and mentors as part of our third “Adventures in Digital Storytelling” workshop in Dharamsala. The story, Light from our Grandmothers, is now shared on our website where other Bridges students from around the world can view it and learn from their experiences. continue

VOLUNTEER APPRECIATED
by Cheryl Crow
We are very proud to present our Volunteer Appreciated for this quarter: Kristin Eddings, who serves as Miss Washington and is a national spokesperson for Bridges and the cause of international education. She will be the first Miss America contestant to run on an international platform and has done incredible work for Bridges over the past year. In India she spent hours in the classroom helping with the culture box exchange and worked intensively with photo-club students on the digital story. continue

NOTES FROM PHIL
by Phil Borges and Greg Tuke
Turning your Imagination into Reality:
What if you could study the issue of conflict and reconciliation strategies not just from a book, but in the presence of youth from South Africa?

What if, instead of hearing your teacher talk about a protest over some China-India-Tibet land issue, you could talk directly with students who actually were protesting last week?

What if you could learn how to use a digital camera for the first time, and making your own movie about an issue you care about, and present it from your own unique point of view to hundreds of other students and read their reactions? What if Archbishop Desmond Tutu could come to your school?

Over 1000 youth were able to have these experiences this year, thanks to the generosity of Bridges supporters, member teachers, and volunteers. And this is only a sample of the life-changing experiences Bridges and the classrooms we work with in more than 30 countries have had this year. continue

SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING EVENT AND A BIG THANK YOU TO GETTY IMAGES
by Greg Tuke and Phil Borges

New International Partnership formed
While traveling to an international teacher’s conference this summer, I was captivated reading Friedman’s new book, The World is Flat. One clear point he makes is that new partnerships between public and private enterprises, large and small, local and international, are being forged in entirely new ways to more effectively achieve the shared mission of organizations. This fall, Getty Images and Bridges to Understanding formed a new strategic partnership that we think will have major benefits to both of us in very significant ways. We are proud to announce that Getty Images, the world’s leading provider of imagery, film footage and digital services, will now provide full office space, office equipment and additional human expertise to Bridges.
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OUR 2007 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE HOT OFF THE PRESS AND FILLING FAST
by Cheryl Crow
We’ve just finished our 2007 workshop schedule, our most ambitious yet, with a new site in South Africa!
Please consider joining us in one of our weekend Seattle workshops, where you’ll learn the basics of digital storytelling and create your own story as well as explore the techniques for facilitating the process in the classroom.
If you’d like more hands on experience in an international environment, our international workshops are for you. continue